Consolitis?
Video Game News and Miscellany
- Thread starter figmentPez
- Start date
Whatever problems I've had with Reggie and some of his buisness decisions, it's clear that he loved what he did, what he sold, and that he cared about what the product stood for. Like Iwata, he believed in Nintendo and it showed any time he was on stage, at an event, or doing a video. So yah... as much as I think this is a good thing, I'm gonna miss him too.
Bethesda has added placeholder entries for games on Amazon. (ie, they're likely to be selling something quite soon)
For some reason, there's widespread speculation that it's related to Fallout, despite there being no reason to believe that Bethesda are going to be releasing any new Fallout games in the near future. Some people think it's going to be a remastered version of an old Fallout game, such as Fallout 3 getting the Skyrim SE treatment, but again there's no reason to believe Bethesda are doing that, because Skyrim SE served as an experiment with the new version of the Creation engine they used for FO4.
My guess is that it's related to Starfield.
For some reason, there's widespread speculation that it's related to Fallout, despite there being no reason to believe that Bethesda are going to be releasing any new Fallout games in the near future. Some people think it's going to be a remastered version of an old Fallout game, such as Fallout 3 getting the Skyrim SE treatment, but again there's no reason to believe Bethesda are doing that, because Skyrim SE served as an experiment with the new version of the Creation engine they used for FO4.
My guess is that it's related to Starfield.
I'd hardly call it unfounded. It does have the retro style countdown clock, reminiscent of Fallout. Unlikely, but there's some evidence.
Everyone can relax. The HD remake we were all waiting for finally has a trailer.
figmentPez
Staff member
That's because the audio is from the original game. To quote their Facebook page, "Currently for the audio tracks of the cinematics and for most of the sound effects in the game proper, we are using the audio ripped from the original Chex Quest. These audio files are badly-compressed and are single-channel, low bit-rate wav files that could hardly be called 'HD'. Exploring options to recreate them on a purely volunteer basis have proven fruitless. "
You joke, but I actually want to play this.
So, every corporation out there has been acting like Anthem is going to be the biggest game in the world, yet before it came out I didn't know a single person that was excited for it, and not that its out, still don't know anyone that's excited about it.
So it didn't surprise me that apparently it's sold 50% of what Mass Effect Andromeda sold, which was itself a flop
So it didn't surprise me that apparently it's sold 50% of what Mass Effect Andromeda sold, which was itself a flop
Yeah... despite all the effort they put into promoting it, I can't think of a single person who was looking forward to this. I suspect Bioware is basically fucked now, unless the next Dragon Age is a smash hit. Regardless, this is EA's fault and their fault alone; when you design games by committee, you get SHIT.
figmentPez
Staff member
I don't even know what type of game Anthem is. What genre is it in, anyway?
And also it's boring and unrewarding and poorly made.
I understand their position. You can look at Anthem and see them checking off the boxes of market research, the only thing they have to justify their decisions in the eyes of the shareholders. This game was made to make money and... it's not going to. Ever. Because the players identified it as a soulless cash grab months before it ever saw launch and had those fears confirmed a week before lthey'd ever get to play it.
But the executives don't care. All they have to do to protect themselves is point to the market research. That will be enough for them to keep their jobs.
GasBandit
Staff member
Market research and committees never paint a masterpiece. One of the more striking statements in support of the whole "video games ARE art" argument.
That's the thing with executives: they chase trends. When one game suddenly blows up, everyone else wants a piece of that pie. But there's two caveats with that monkey's paw:
1) Developing a big game like that takes time. By the time it release, the interest in that particular trend might be dying out.
2) Gamers don't want more of what's already popular. They have the thing that's trending. So there's no way that same explosive success can be imitated (or surpassed) unless that new game is invariably different.
1) Developing a big game like that takes time. By the time it release, the interest in that particular trend might be dying out.
2) Gamers don't want more of what's already popular. They have the thing that's trending. So there's no way that same explosive success can be imitated (or surpassed) unless that new game is invariably different.
Anthem is a Looter Shooter, ala Borderlands, Destiny, or Warframe. More like Destiny and Warframe in that they are always online 'live services,' though I will say that Warframe is more fun and is free to play to boot.
Anthem is EA looking at Activision with Destiny (before Bungee jumped ship) and saying they need a piece of what they assume is a giant cash pie. So they cracked the whip on their lackey Bioware, pulled them off of Mass Effect (leaving Mass Effect: Andromeda to be made by a team that had only ever done ports before) and told them that they need to make a game just like Destiny because it's the new hotness.
The problem of course being that six years later it's not so hot anymore.
Anthem is EA looking at Activision with Destiny (before Bungee jumped ship) and saying they need a piece of what they assume is a giant cash pie. So they cracked the whip on their lackey Bioware, pulled them off of Mass Effect (leaving Mass Effect: Andromeda to be made by a team that had only ever done ports before) and told them that they need to make a game just like Destiny because it's the new hotness.
The problem of course being that six years later it's not so hot anymore.
I was passively interested in Anthem when it was announced, cautious but still interested.
As the months winding to release approached, it felt like no one was talking about it anymore. An early release preview came out that I was able to get into. Despite being marred with technical issues, non-existent keyboard controls(using a mouse to fly initially was not possible due to the cursor not recentering), it failing to even recognize a ps4 controller at all, loading screens everywhere, dropped connections forcing more loading screens...I'd conceded most of these issues were potentionally because of the early access. That doesn't really seem to be the case now. And I did enjoy it while in was playing.
The nail in the coffin was after finishing a few hours, the available story missions(free roam would not load and forced me back to the start menu thus more loading screens) and still within the early access time, I just had 0 interest in returning for the next day. It screamed of Destiny, that I bemoaned buying after getting my fill of it in a month. I didn't need to pay another 90$ and play for a month out of an obligation because I've paid for it before pushing aside.
Oddly, Apex Legends was announced and released, with totally different genre and gameplay. That absolutely killed any interest I had in Anthem as I knew I'd never have the time to dedicate to both, let alone anything else I'm still pushing through my rotation..
As the months winding to release approached, it felt like no one was talking about it anymore. An early release preview came out that I was able to get into. Despite being marred with technical issues, non-existent keyboard controls(using a mouse to fly initially was not possible due to the cursor not recentering), it failing to even recognize a ps4 controller at all, loading screens everywhere, dropped connections forcing more loading screens...I'd conceded most of these issues were potentionally because of the early access. That doesn't really seem to be the case now. And I did enjoy it while in was playing.
The nail in the coffin was after finishing a few hours, the available story missions(free roam would not load and forced me back to the start menu thus more loading screens) and still within the early access time, I just had 0 interest in returning for the next day. It screamed of Destiny, that I bemoaned buying after getting my fill of it in a month. I didn't need to pay another 90$ and play for a month out of an obligation because I've paid for it before pushing aside.
Oddly, Apex Legends was announced and released, with totally different genre and gameplay. That absolutely killed any interest I had in Anthem as I knew I'd never have the time to dedicate to both, let alone anything else I'm still pushing through my rotation..
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Yeah, and by the next month, no one's buying Flaming Moe's anymore because they're sick of them.
Apex Legends cratered like it did because it took the red-hot Battle Royale formula, and combined it with unique and colorful characters that offer a wide variety of special abilities, like Overwatch, with the hi-tech setting of Titanfall. In this case, they managed to take the positives of several different hit games and make a coherent, apparently fun and engrossing experience. It's not just another PUBG clone - the action is much more fast paced and kinetic. So it succeeds where others fail.
Apex Legends cratered like it did because it took the red-hot Battle Royale formula, and combined it with unique and colorful characters that offer a wide variety of special abilities, like Overwatch, with the hi-tech setting of Titanfall. In this case, they managed to take the positives of several different hit games and make a coherent, apparently fun and engrossing experience. It's not just another PUBG clone - the action is much more fast paced and kinetic. So it succeeds where others fail.
Hoo boy, this is not a good look for THQ.
Ah. “Cratering” is usually used to describe a spectacular failure, one which specifically had so much downward momentum that it buried itself in a crater once it finally landed, like those cartoons where the guy hits the ground so hard that he coincidentally plows up a stone and flower to make his own grave.
(FWIW I also have issue with “meteoric rise,” since meteors don’t “rise,” they “fall”...and then they also “crater”)
But thank you for clarifying.
—Patrick